Madonna, the Feral Child

Madonna, The Feral Child

I'm sure you may have heard of wild or wolf children, also known as feral children. These are human children that have been neglected and raised with little to no human contact. Some have been raised in the wild by animals, mostly by dogs, wolfs, or large cat breeds. Other feral children have been locked up or left alone since birth. These children mostly confined and denied all social interaction with others. There are hundreds of cases of wild children from around the world but one special case struck my attention. The case of Madonna is one of the vaguest ones. All of the names and locations in this article have been altered to insure the confidentiality of the girl, her care givers, and her foster families.

The story of Madonna began to unfold when social services found her wondering through a field near a rural town. When taken by social services they believed she was between the age of seven or eight, although her true age can never be determined. The young girl seemed to have been severely neglected. Her hair was matted into dreadlocks and she was suffering from sever malnutrition. Her vision had never been corrected, therefore the girl had little to no vision (later on corrected with lenses). She had numerous broken bones and suffered from multiple scars form prior physical abuse. It seemed to examiners that she had previously been locked up in confined spaces, examples given: trunks of cars, attics, and even ovens. As social service workers continued with Madonna's examinations they came to a shocking conclusion, the young girl had Fetal alcohol syndrome. It is today believed that Madonna's mother used a variety of drugs during her pregnancy and through the time she had Madonna. As more of the truth began to unfold, social workers found that Madonna, as a very young toddler, was sold off for drugs and transported around the world, to be used for prostitution. When more psychological test were done the girl was diagnosed with multiple

personality disorder (MPD). It was then recorded that the girl had 11 different fully functioning personalities and up to 15 partially developed ones. The language Madonna mostly used was an infant level one; she was in the play stage of her life although she was 8-15 years old. She had been exposed to some language but most only phrases connected directly to sexual activities or intercourse.

When Madonna was first taken into foster care she seemed to do very well. Although within weeks her caregivers caught her practicing sexual activities on the other children. Madonna offered her body to anyone around, male or female, infant to adult. She seemed to thrive on sexual activities with adult men. She had to be monitored constantly because she would run away to harass the other kids and caregivers, example: Madonna was missing for 30 seconds and already caught unzipping a 3 year old boys fly. It was not only the other children she provoked, Madonna was caught offering herself to a police officer that worked for social services. The last straw came about when she was caught down the street ready to have sexual intercourse with a young teen-age boy. She was then diagnosed as a sexual predator and sent away to a high- security mental institution. Madonna escaped multiple times and every time she did she headed straight for the boys' rooms.

Madonna at the age of 15 was released into the custody of the author and her family, her husband and her half daughter, names not included. This would be her last foster home. Funds were provided to the family to completely support Madonna. She was to have constant monitoring, care, schooling, tutoring, and activities. The author sought therapy for the girl but there was no psychologist willing to give Madonna treatment. After one year there was finally a psychologist willing to give her examinations, NOT treatment.